The term “linen” includes bed linen such as inter alia sheets, fitted sheets, draw sheets, bedspreads, duvet sheets, pillow cases, etc. and also table linen such as inter alia tablecloths and napkins, etc. having a minimum width of 1 m and a maximum width of 3.3 m. Flat products made of terry toweling are not included here.
A feeding device of this type is already known from EP 1 413 665 which describes a feed system wherein two corners of the piece of linen to be ironed are manually clamped. These corners are taken over by another pair of clamps which will spread the piece of linen to be ironed. The spread piece of linen is subsequently deposited on a controller which can move forwards and backwards and deposits the piece of linen to be ironed on feed belts which lead the item of linen to be ironed to the ironing unit.
However, the disadvantage of such a device is that during the transfer of the item of linen to be ironed from the feeding device to the ironing unit, this piece of linen to be ironed has to be continuously clamped, which is disadvantageous, since when 2 corners are clamped, tension is at all times exerted on the edge of the item of linen to be ironed and this piece of linen to be ironed is deformed. In addition, the ironing capacity per person is less because said person must, for each piece of linen to be ironed, look for the 2 points of this piece of linen to be ironed and introduce them into 2 clamps.
In EP 1 160 370 a device is described for supplying items of laundry to an ironing mangle. Therewith, a piece of laundry is deposited from clamps on a conveyor belt. The clamps move therewith over this conveyor belt in order to spread the item of laundry. During this process, at least a part of the bottom clamping halves of the clamps hold the item of laundry in contact with the conveyor belt.
A similar system which is based on the same principle is described in DD 238 409.
However, these systems are mainly mechanical systems which do not operate on the principle of suction in order to bring the item of laundry to the ironing mangle. The item of laundry is however spread with the aid of two clamps. The only suction which takes place is produced by the conveyor belt in order to suck said item of laundry against the conveyor belt. As a result of the fact that the item of laundry is clamped, tension is at all times exerted on the edge of the item of laundry to be ironed and this item of laundry to be ironed is deformed. Such devices thus contain many mechanical components, as a result of which they operate slowly and as a result of which the risk of faults is increased owing to the large number of movements which are to take place in these devices.
In DE 90 14 821, a device is described for supplying items of laundry of different size, for example tablecloths on the one hand and hand towels on the other hand, to an ironing mangle. Therewith, the device comprises various charging devices which are positioned next to one another and are provided with an air-permeable surface which can be provided with reduced pressure. These charging devices are arranged so as to be able to move back and forth. Furthermore, a conveyor belt, on which at the upper part thereof air can be sucked off, is provided below these supporting devices. In order to introduce a piece of laundry into the ironing mangle, this item is laid, depending on the size thereof, on one or more charging devices which suck in this item of laundry and take it along until this item of laundry can be deposited on the conveyor belt which then further takes along the item of laundry in the direction of the ironing mangle.
However, the disadvantage of this device is that the back-and-forth movement which the supporting devices are to carry out necessitates a large number of mechanical components, as a result of which the device operates slowly. In addition, the large number of movements which are carried out in the device increases the risk of faults.
In the Japanese patent application JP 07194900 a suction system is described which is provided with                a suction space which is exerted in a tunnel-shaped manner toward an open input side of the suction system and which is exerted narrower toward the inside of a conveyor belt of the suction system;        a top and a bottom suction portion which are provided for sucking off the air in the suction space and which are provided at the upper and the underside of the bottom surface of the aforementioned conveyor belt;        a linen holder for suspending a piece of linen close to the input side of the suction space and which is mounted at the upper side of this suction space;        an air jet pipe for blowing an air flow in order to push the top end of the linen into the suction space when the linen is detached from the linen holder.        
The disadvantage of this suction system is, again, that the linen is spread with the aid of two clamps, as a result of which tension is at all times exerted on the edge of the piece of linen to be ironed and this item of linen to be ironed is deformed. A further disadvantage is that this suction system does not operate efficiently since, when the linen holder releases the linen in order to allow said linen to be sucked into the suction space, there is a high risk that said linen will fall downward. In addition, the system is complex as a result of the use of the aforementioned air jet pipe.